Circuit interrupter



De@ 8; l931 M. H. sHoENBr-:RG Erm. 1,835,616

CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER Filed Aug. 13, 1925 v .1 I IHN I...

FIL-3- E- m 6 l sm W a mm? www wss 0S E M Patented Des s, 1931.

UNITED fsTATEs' PATENT. hOFFICE MILTCN vH'. SHOENBERG AND LESTER. SCHON,` 0F SAN FRANCISCO, CALHORNIA; SAID SCHON ASSIGNOR T0 SAllD SHOENBERG CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER quickly to flash the same intermittently, and is of the thermostatically controlled type.

Our invention is in the nature of an improvement over the socket interrupter shown in United States Letters Patent No.'1,400,9l4, issued to Milton H. Shoenberg on December 20, 1921, and particularly of the device shown and claimed in our Patent No. 1,602,088, granted October 5, 1926, of which this application is a continuation in part. In eachof c Y the foregoin inventions, an electric heating coll was emp oyed whlch was 1n circuit with contacts normally closed carried by the therrupted by the heating of said element. In these forms of devices, the range of use was more or less limited by the heating coil, since a coil designed for a lamp of high Wattage would have a resistance too great-fora lamp of fewer watts, and on the other hand, a coil designed for the lower watt lamp would be burned out with the larger lamps. We have found'it possible to use an interrupter embodying our present invention over a range of from 2 to 250 watts/f It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a circuit interrupter that obviates ,the difficulties above described.

' It is a further object of this invention. to construct a novel device which may be removably positioned within a lamp socket or receptacle for recurrently varying the current supplied by the socket.

It is another object of our invention to greatly simplify upon the mechanical structure of devices which are shown in our Patent No. 1,602,088 to which 'reference has previously been made.

Further objects of 4the invention will appear from the following description in which kwe have set forth the preferred embodiment of our lnvention. It is to be understood that the appended claims are lto be accorded a range of equivalents consistent with the state of the prior art.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a top view of an interrupter embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the thermostatic unit.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view partly in section, and partly in elevation illustrating our inter`- rupter ,in operative position for flashing intermittently an incandescent electric lamp of the usual type; and

Fig. 6 is a view partly in section and partly in elevation illustrating an incandescent lamp provided with an interrupter embody- .ing our invention. mostatic element, and the circuit wasinter- In the invention herein disclosed, instead of utilizing a' body- ,comprising a plurality of parts, We utilize a body 1, which is preferably formed of a single piece ofinsulating material. This body is relatively flat or disc shaped and is sufliciently small in diamater so as to readilyenter a standard Edison type vsocket or lamp receptacle such as shown in Fig. 5,.v Formed within the body 1 and preferably offset from the center of the same, there is a recess 3 forming an opening in the body, and serving to accommodate a thermostatic unit or circuit interrupter element 2.

The body is also preferably provided with two openings 4 and 5 to receive eyelets 6 and 7 for securing contacts 8 and 9 to the body 1. As best shown in Fig. 2, the contacts 8 and 9 are secured to opposite sides of the body 1, and are bent outwardly at their free ends from the faces of the body 1, so as to form resilient or spring contacts, whereby good contact will be made between the same and the lam'p socket and lamp. Preferably the free ends of the contacts 8 and 9 are enlarged in the form of small discs 10 and 11 respectively which are positioned centrally with respect to the body 1.

' terial, and in the drawings" such material is 4 shown as transparent. From the foregoing The thermostatic unit ,2 comprises two lthermostatic -elements 12 and 13 each of which is in the form of two strips 14 and 15 ofmetal xed together, having different coeicients of expansion, preferably steel and brass respectively, the outside strip 15 in each case being oibr'ass and the strips 14 facingv each other being of' steel, whereby expansion I cause thejelements 12 and 13 to move toward each other. The elements 12 and 13 are separated at one of their ends `by a high resistance block v16, preferably graphite, the lresistance of which is preferably at least three times as great as that of the smallest lamp with which the interrupter is to be used, and-.the elements 12 and13'are secured to the block 16 in any suitable manner, preferably 21. As shown in Fig.' 1, the thermostatic unit 2 is placed in the opening 3 of the body 1 and the contacts 8 and 9 are secured'to said bod on opposite sides thereof. The assemb'le parts are placed in a cup-shaped container 22-which is closed by a similar container 23' which telescopes with the container ,22 so as to form a closed container forthe parts. The parts 22I and 23 are each pro-- vided with a cut or split 24 so that the contact ends 10 and 1-1may project'through the same respectively so as'v to be on the outside of the completedA unit. The container parts 22l and 23 are made of suitable insulating madetailed description of a construction 'e'mbodying my invention, the operation of the same will be readily understood from a' brief description thereof. When the complete unit, -designated 25, .is placed in a lamp socket 26, as shown in Fig. 5, one of the con v tacts v10, 11,.makes contact with the contact tacts engagesthe contact 280i a lamp 29 27 in the socket 26 and the other of. said conscrewed into the socket. Due to the resilient character of the contactsA 10 and 11, a close` contactv with the'socketvcontact'27 and lamp contact 28 is secured. When the lamp circuit 1s closed, thesame is interrupted rapidly b theumt25soastocausethelampto intermittently. above stated the contacts 18 and 19 carried by the thermostatic elements 12 and 13 are normally separated; thus when the lamp is closed,`the current passes Afromone of the contacts 10 or 1], for purposes of illustration we-may assume tobe 10,-'through conductor 20, car'-l opening,resi1ient contacts on opposite' contact 11 Due to the high resistance of the block. 16, very'little currentpasses to the lamp., As the current continues toV ,ow

through the block 16, the same is heated,

thereby actuating thermostatic elements 12 and 13, causing the contacts 18 and 19'to engage and short-circuiti'the vblock`16. The

current then flows through the lam'p29 from the socket contact 27 contact 10, conductor 20, element 12, contacts 18 and 19, element 13,

conductor 21, contact '11. andlamp contact 28,

and through the lamp to the oppositeside of the circuit. The block 16 nowv being shortcircuited, the same cools whereupon the lamp circuit is opened between contacts 18 and 19, and the excess current which momentarily accumulates when thel circuit is interrupted', is absorbed lby theresistance block 16, thereby reducingV the Vsparking between the contacts 18 and 19 to a minimum. vIt of coursez is understood that the parts described are very sensitive andthat operations described take lace with rapid sequence.

In ig. 6we have shown our interrupter element embodied in an electric lamp and integraltherewith. In'thiscase the lamp base 30 is provided with a recess 3,1 to receive a thermostatic unit 2 similarto that shown in Fig. 1, and one of its conductors, for example 20,.is electricallyconnected with the lamp filament 32 and the other of its conductors 21, is electrically connected Y.with the lamp base Contact 33. The operation in'this case of course is similar toithat above described in e connection with Fig., 5. y

It is obvious from the above description that we have provided a device of great sim^` plicity which may be eiiciently used insignals or other devices for ashinglamps. v It is to be distinguished vfrom adapters or. other such devices in that our device is inserted plu vconnector may be of t e socket. y

We claim:

element interpsed between the same `and in electrical contact therewith for heating said thermostatic elements, means.- for securing said thermostatic elements toA said resistance ico within va lamp socket so that the lamp base or A engaged with threads v110 1. In a circuit interrrupter, two thermo-v static elements adapted to move toward eachI lother when heated, a single flat resistanceelement, and contacts Vnormally separated carried by saidthermostatic elements'adapted to shortcircuit said resistance element when said thermostatic elements 'are heated.

2. A device of the Yclass described comprising a disc of insulating material formed with sides of said disc, a thermostatic unit within said opening comprising a resistance element electrically connected-in with said con- -tacts, a thermostatic elementconnected with each contact adapted Yto be heated by said e'- sistance element when said supplied by the socket, an

sistance element, a contact carried by each said element I' thermostatic element normally separated and adapted to engage and short circuit said rel thermostatic elements are heated.

3. A' device of the class described comprising a disc of insulating material formed with an opening, resilient contacts on opposite sides of said disc, a thermostatic unit within said opening comprising a resistance element electrically connected in series with said contacts, a thermostatic element connected with each contact adapted to be heated by said resistance element, a contact carried by each thermostatic element normally separated and adapted to engage and short circuit said rerent supplied to the In testimony set our hands.

` MILTON H.

SHIQENBERG.

LESTER SCHO sistance element when said thermostatic ele- I ments are heated and a casing for said disc having slots through which said resilient contacts project.

4. A. device of the dass described ddapd to be removably sitioned within a lamp socketor receptacld) comprising a relatively flat wafer or disc having an opening therethrough, contacts positioned on o poslte faces of said disc, an interrupter e ement positioned within the recess for recurrently vary,

ing current supplied by socket,.and an insu-fv lated cover for the disc, to enclose the ends of said opening.

5. A device of the class described adapted to be removablyv ositioned within a lamp socket or receptac e comprising a relatively iiat wafer or-disc having an openin therecontacts positioned on opposite faces of said l through ofiset from the center of t e disc,

disc, an interrupter element positioned within the ,recess for `'recurrentl varying current an insulated cover for the disc serving to close the ends of said opening, sections.

the cover comprising interiitting e. A de vi'p'f thdclass described adapted to be removably positioned within a `lamp socket or receptac ilat wafer or disc made substantially entirely material, contacts positioned of insulating on opposite aces of said disc, an interrupter elementpositioned within the disc for recur-.-

u rently varying current supplied by the socket,

` nal contactsdisped upon of'tlie bod`y, said contacts `from directelectrical contact w'itheach lother and a cover of material for the dise, said cover ment within the r'e, and tenmby theinlnvlating material of e comprising a relatively"- apertured to permit external electrical connection with said con-I to repeatedly va `.cur socket. r ry whereof, we have hereunto j ne 

